


Counting

by Morgan_Stuart



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: 221B Ficlet, Friendship, The Reichenbach Fall
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-16
Updated: 2012-01-16
Packaged: 2017-10-29 15:39:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/321473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morgan_Stuart/pseuds/Morgan_Stuart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Moriarty had ended his tally one name too soon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Counting

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place during events depicted in the second-series Sherlock episode "The Reichenbach Fall."
> 
> This is a 221b ficlet (221 words, the last beginning with "b").
> 
> This universe does not belong to me; I'm just an appreciative visitor. I make no profit from this fan work.

When Jim Moriarty explained the "extra incentive" he'd arranged to ensure the suicide and disgrace of the world's only consulting detective, Sherlock knew exactly for whom the three bullets were intended.

The man who was not his date.

The woman who was not his housekeeper.

The man who was not his handler.

The ones he trusted, the ones on whom he'd relied for so long. The ones who even now struggled against the poisonous lies that scuttled forth from Moriarty's web like so many thin-legged, eager arachnids.

The three were Sherlock's closest friends in the world, to be certain. But not his only ones.

Moriarty had ended his tally one name too soon.

"I don't count," she'd said, and in a manner of speaking, she'd been correct. Moriarty hadn't counted Molly Hooper. Fortunately, in the eleventh hour, Sherlock had.

He'd counted on her, in fact.

The thought struck him as he balanced on the ledge and considered the pavement below. For a heartbeat Sherlock allowed himself a silent laugh at Moriarty's oversight, which nearly had been his own, as well.

Molly Hooper, _his friend_ , counted very much indeed.

It would be a testament to how much she counted when Sherlock disappeared into the background of his beloved London, whilst Moriarty lay cold in a viscous pool of his own blood.

 

THE END

**Author's Note:**

> Vital Stats: Originally written in January 2012.


End file.
